ryan nugent-hopkins – Sports Updatehttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate
Blogging special sports events and storiesThu, 27 Oct 2016 18:43:48 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.151022412And the winners are: See who takes home the NHL’s regular season awardshttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2012/04/and-the-winners-are-see-who-takes-home-the-nhls-regular-season-awards/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2012/04/and-the-winners-are-see-who-takes-home-the-nhls-regular-season-awards/#respondMon, 02 Apr 2012 21:43:07 +0000http://blog.chron.com/hockeystop/?p=646With the NHL’s regular season wrapping up this weekend, Hockey Stop takes an early look at the year-end awards for 2012 before the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

All stats are as of April 2.

Hart Trophy:

The Hart Trophy is given to the league’s MVP, and there is an age-old argument that a player should not be up for it unless his team makes the playoffs. This makes it hard not to consider the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Steve Stamkos for consideration. Goalies generally don’t see much love here, but the New York Rangers Henrik Lundqvist and the Nashville Predators Pekka Rinne make a strong case. The consensus argument for who wins this award is where would the team be WITHOUT this player? With that being said, we included Stamkos, even though his Lightning won’t make the playoffs. Imagine how bad they’d be without his league-leading 56 goals?

Nominees:

Steven Stamkos-Tampa Bay Lightning

Claude Giroux- Philadelphia Flyers

Evgeni Malkin- Pittsburgh Penguins

Steven Stamkos-Tampa Bay Lightning

Stamkos leads the league in goals on a bad Lightning team with 56. His 36 assists give him 92 points on the season. The game’s purest goal scorer continues to build his case for Hart consideration.

Claude Giroux- Philadelphia Flyers

When the Flyers overhauled their roster last summer, there were plenty of question marks coming into this season. The Flyers, currently the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, can credit their success to Claude Giroux’s breakout season. Everyone the center has played with this season has reaped the benefits of playing with the talented playmaker. Giroux’s 89 points come off 28 goals and an impressive 61 assists.

And the winner is…

Evgeni Malkin- Pittsburgh Penguins

When Sidney Crosby went down Evgeni Malkin stepped up. Malkin leads the league in points with 106 off 48 goals and 56 assists. Malkin has been a monster all season doing his best Mario Lemieux impression. The center has been dominant and the prime reason Pittsburgh has done so well without Crosby for stretches of time.

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Vezina Trophy

The Vezina Trophy is given to the league’s best goaltender, and this year’s crop is one of the best in years. All three nominees make valid cases to win the trophy and are all MVPs for their respective teams.

Nominees:

Henrik Lundqvist- New York Rangers

Jonathan Quick- Los Angeles Kings

Pekka Rinne- Nashville Predators

Jonathan Quick- Los Angeles Kings

Jonathan Quick is a big reason the Kings are in a playoff position as he leads the league in shutouts with nine for a team who has struggled to score goals all season. When your team can’t score, you need your goaltender to step up. Quick has a stingy goals-allowed average of 1.92 and a save percentage of .930.

Pekka Rinne- Nashville Predators

Pekka Rinne has the tendency to fly under the radar playing in Nashville, but once again the Preds’ success can be traced to between the pipes. Rinne has a goals-allowed average of 2.43 and a save percentage of .922 and leads the league in wins with 42.

And the winner is. …

Henrik Lundqvist- New York Rangers

“The King” is a big reason the Eastern-Conference leading Rangers resurgence and New York is also tied with Vancouver for 107 points —best in the entire league. Eight shutouts, 38 wins, a goals-against average of 1.92 and a save percentage of .933 are just some of the reasons the chant of “ Hen-rik, Hen-rik!” can be heard nightly at Madison Square Garden. Lundqvist is motivated for the Cup, but this is definitely his year when it comes to hardware in the Vezina.

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Norris Trophy

The Norris is given to the league’s top defenseman, and a lot of times, the defensive defenseman don’t get the respect t they deserve as the award usually goes to two-way defenseman and point getters. The St. Louis Blues Alex Pietrangelo and the New York Rangers Dan Girardi turned some heads this year, but Erik Karlsson’s breakout season for Ottawa can’t be ignored.

Nominees:

Erik Karlsson- Ottawa Senators

Shea Weber- Nashville Predators

Zdeno Chara- Boston Bruins

Erik Karlsson- Ottawa Senators

The puck-moving Swede leads defenseman in scoring with 77 points, including an eye-opening goal total of 19.

Shea Weber- Nashville Predators

The Nashville captain has 19 goals to go along with his intimidating physical presence. Paired with Ryan Suter, Nashville has one of the best d-man tandems in the league.

And the winner is ….

Zdeno Chara- Boston Bruins

Zdeno Chara has won this before and he wins it again. His plus/minus rating of +33 along with his 12 goals and 40 assists makes him more than just a shutdown defenseman. The 6-8 captain of the Bruins does it all.

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Selke Trophy

Given to the best two-way player, the Selke Trophy celebrates the forward who plays both sides of the puck the best. Some new names are up for the award this season ( Sorry Pavel Datsyuk).

Nominees:

David Backes- St. Louis Blues

Ryan Callahan- New York Rangers

Patrice Bergeron –Boston Bruins

Ryan Callahan- New York Rangers

The Captain is the identity of the New York Rangers, as the whole teams follows his lead of shot blocking, keying in on defensive details, back checking and hitting. Don’t let his -3 rating fool you, Callahan is one of the most dependable players in the league.

Patrice Bergeron –Boston Bruins

His +/- rating of +36 is tops among the nominees and the pivot is great on faceoffs and in short-handed situations. He can also dominate offensively as well with 61 points on the season.

And the winner is ….

David Backes- St. Louis Blues

David Backes is an ideal poster child for how coach Ken Hitchock has perfected the Blues. The captain hits, back checks and leads. His 24 goals, 20 assists and +18 rating aren’t too shabby.

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Calder Trophy

This best rookie crop features just one player who will be playing in the postseason in New Jersey’s Adam Henrique. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Gabriel Landeskog won’t be seeing the playoffs this year, but their young teams have bright futures.

Nominees:

Adam Henrique- New Jersey Devils

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Edmonton Oilers

Gabriel Landeskog- Colorado Avalanche

Adam Henrique- New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils seems to have a gem to Henrique who has quietly put together a solid rookie season with 16 goals and 34 assists.

Gabriel Landeskog- Colorado Avalanche

This first-round pick has given Avs’ fans hope. The forward has 22 goals, give of those being game-winning goals.

And the winner is …

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Edmonton Oilers

To think Nugent-Hopkins, the Oilers first-round pick, was almost sent back down to juniors this year. This exciting forward has 18 goals, 33 assists and is one of many emerging young stars for Edmonton.

—

Jack Adams Award

The best coach award isn’t always the flashiest award, but you have to give credit where credit is due here. If it wasn’t for Ken Hitchcock would the Blues even be in the playoffs?

Nominees:

Ken Hitchcock- St. Louis Blues

Kevin Dineen- Florida Panthers

John Tortorella –New York Rangers

John Tortorella –New York Rangers

With a young defense, which had its fair share of injuries this year as it is, you’d think the Rangers would struggle. The fiery coach has had every player buy into his system and it has worked as the Rangers surprised the league by climbing to the top of the standings.

Kevin Dineen- Florida Panthers

Welcome back to the NHL playoffs Florida. The Panthers made a gamble by revamping the majority of the team last summer, and Dineen has molded this squad into one of the success stories of 2012.

And the winner is. …

Ken Hitchcock- St. Louis Blues

Before the veteran coach turned over the Blues were bottom feeders and in danger of missing the playoffs. Now, the Blues are battling for the No. 1 spot in West and best record in the league. Enough said.

]]>http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2012/04/and-the-winners-are-see-who-takes-home-the-nhls-regular-season-awards/feed/012255Cheap Hits: Should the Canucks trade Luongo?http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/10/cheap-hits-should-the-canucks-trade-luongo/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/10/cheap-hits-should-the-canucks-trade-luongo/#respondWed, 26 Oct 2011 20:29:59 +0000http://blog.chron.com/hockeystop/?p=131Welcome to the first edition of Cheap Hits, a look at hot topics in hockey and some of the week’s best.

Should the Canucks trade Roberto Luongo?

The Vancouver Canucks were the deepest team in the league last year, and arguably this season as well. They were poised to win the Cup, until they were met with a grittier, hungrier Boston Bruins team. Star goaltender Roberto Luongo was also outplayed by Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas on the other side of the ice in goal. Luongo’s struggles have been heavily publicized, especially when facing the Chicago Blackhawks, but his subpar play in the Finals last summer had many Canucks fans wanting to riot ( which they did).

This season, Luongo is off to a rough start. So far in six contests, he has posted a record of 2-3-1 with a goals-against average of 3.45 and a save percentage of .868, not good numbers for your franchise goalie. Luongo’s massive contract has him signed until 2022, an absurd length that may make him hard to trade.

Do the Canucks make a move and trade him now while he still has value and young backup Cory Schneider has shown he could be a starter, or do they ride it out and see if he can bring Vancouver the Cup? The Canucks traded for top-sixth forward David Booth last week, showing they aren’t afraid to shake things up a little bit. But what about shaking things up a lot?

Could the pressure be too much for Luongo? He previously played for the Florida Panthers and made a name for himself as one of the NHL’s best by keeping his team in games when they were grossly out shot on a nightly basis. But playing in Florida is a lot different than playing in hockey-crazed Canada.

The Canucks would gain salary cap flexibility of they could move Luongo, but they’d have to find a team willing to take on his ridiculous contract and in desperate need for goaltending. The Tampa Bay Lightning have a strong core for a Cup run but lack goaltending and could use a star in net, but for cap relief a hefty contract, say captain Vincent Lecavalier ( signed to 2020) must go back the other way. Ottawa and division rival San Jose could use some goaltending, but either way if a deal was to be made, it would likely be a blockbuster.

What will the Oiler do with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins?

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the Oilers No.1 pick in the 2011 draft, has been lighting it up so far on a line with 2010 No. 1 pick Taylor Hall and another young gem in Jordan Eberle. The 18-year old Nugent-Hopkins, or “The Nuge” as Oilers’ fans have nicknamed him, has scored five goals and three assists so far this season. The Oilers top line is dynamic, but a tough decision looms; send him back to juniors or see if he can keep up his hot hand in the NHL.

The Oilers have till game No. 9 to make the decision. Nugent-Hopkins doesn’t look out of place with the big boys and if he continues to produce and play well while getting top-six minutes, “The Nuge” should stay.